Within the rugged mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico is Sistema Huautla- an underground abyss that redefines the scale of the subterranean world beneath us. Explored to a depth of -1560 meters, it is the deepest known cave in the Western Hemisphere and the 8th deepest in the world. Currently, Sistema Huautla includes 21 separate entrances, with their respective caves totaling 43+ miles of passage. As the immensity of this underground wilderness is still not fully realized, exploration in Sistema Huautla is on-going.

Huautla's location in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca

Sereninty in The Metro. /photo by Stephen Eginoire

A team of cave diving specialists prepare to explore beyond the 840 Sump- a single dive that stretches over a quarter mile- 2,755 feet beneath the surface of the earth. /photo by Jarvist Moore Frost.